LIVE REVIEW & GALLERY: letlive. @ Electric Ballroom, Camden

July 10th 2025

Support from Native James and Last Hounds

I made my way to one of my favourite spots, Camden Town, to see Letlive perform in their self-proclaimed ‘final tour’. This stop at the Electric Ballroom is a preceding show to their appearance at 2000 Trees Festival in Cheltenham on Saturday night, playing right before headliners Alexisonfire. The demand for these UK dates was so popular that the band opened up a second date this Sunday at the same venue, the Electric Ballroom, with the same support acts, Native James and Last Hounds.

This was my first time shooting at this venue. I have visited here a few times in my youth but not for many years. It looked smaller than I remembered. With a lot of buzz around this Los Angeles-based post hardcore band recently, I knew that the whole place would be filled to the brim.

First up was Native James, an artist I previously wasn’t aware of. The artist’s music is described by Saviour Music as ‘melding hip hop, grime, rock, metal and garage’, and with his first album Rebirth being released just last year, he is relatively new on the scene. I always find it interesting to see the choice of support acts for shows, and I would say that this was probably as perfect a fit as you could find for a band like Letlive. With heavy guitar riffs combined with rap-style vocal patterns, this set had the audience moshing one moment and getting their groove on the next. I feel that the fusing of rap and grime within the metal scene is something we need more of, and I have a feeling that we will be hearing a lot more about Native James in months to come. It was refreshing to have the stage opened up by fresh new talent, and to have a local town like Ipswich getting some musical representation!

Next up was five-piece, Midlands-based hardcore/punk band Last Hounds, who were also stopping off along the way to their appearance at 2000 Trees. As the band approached the stage, it was apparent they had a very warm welcome from a lot of existing fans in the crowd. As a photographer in the photo pit, I fully appreciated the vocalist Mikey Skelcher’s energetic, bouncy stage presence, despite how tricky it was to capture (I forgive you Mikey). From jumping off the drum kit to diving into the crowd, the audience support for this band did not fall flat in the slightest. You could see the band’s energy being soaked up by the audience, who came together in one of the fastest circle pits I’ve seen. Last Hounds released their first album Old Dreams in 2017, and most recently released their EP Growing Pains earlier this year. The band’s music combines repeated catchy riffs with strong punky vocals and melodic choruses, just what you’d expect from punk music but with a modern melodic twist. This is one of those bands where you don’t even need to know any of the songs to have a good time at their gig, and I think as a band that’s a sign that you’re onto something good! You can catch Last Hounds again this Sunday, supporting Letlive at the Electric Ballroom once more – I would definitely recommend it. After their Trees performance, the band take on Belgium, France and Norway in three more festival appearances.

While the eager crowd awaited letlive., the interval was an eerie experience with what I can only describe as creepy ’60s show tunes playing for what felt like an hour. An odd choice in interval music I thought, as I heard someone in the crowd shout, “This music is doing my head in!”. I think the thought process behind this might’ve been to create a calm before the storm type of environment – slow and droning songs before the band hit the stage and turn the room upside down. As the lights changed and a slow riff hit, I knew it was time to head to the photo pit. Jason Aalon Butler’s hooded silhouette graced the stage. All I was thinking was ‘teenage me would be screaming right now’. With a wave and a warm smile to the crowd, you could see his excitement to be playing one of the last UK shows. When the show started, I couldn’t ignore the gig-goers at the barrier directly behind me, jumping, screaming along and punching the air. You could feel the passion immediately. I turned my camera around and wanted to capture what this band meant to these front row fans. Jason’s energy and stage presence were electric. After the first song, he showered the front row (including myself) in a mouthful of water that felt never ending. Somehow I found this super exciting even though if someone in the crowd did this I’d be fuming, but it’s Jason so…

I really enjoyed the mixture of older and newer songs. My peak letlive. listening period was around the time of The Blackest Beautiful in 2013, but I also listened to songs off their 2010 album Fake History. After my short stint in the photo pit, I made my way up to the balcony for some wider shots. And just in time for my favourite song by the band, called ‘Muther’. Jason introduced this song as being a tribute to all the women in the crowd, touching on mistreatment of women by men and his support for all women. For the first time, the crowd stood still as Jason spoke these moving words, and I’m not ashamed to admit that it made me a little teary, in a good way. The view from the Electric Ballroom balcony was amazing. As ‘Muther’ started, the crowd including myself shouted along. It was a really special moment. At the end of the song Jason stopped singing, but the crowd continued chanting “Don’t you cry mamma we’ll, we’ll be okay”. The band were moved by this level of involvement for a song that was released 15 years ago, but is still very prevalent in these fans’ lives today. I was so glad I got to capture that moment from the height of the balcony and watching this great song fill the entire room.

Jason made his way into the middle of the crowd to be held up by trusted crowd members as he continued to perform. “I know we’ve been saying this is the final tour,” Jason said, “but that right there! We’ll see what 2026 is looking like.” You could definitely feel this singer’s appreciation and trust for his fans, especially when he later climbed the balcony and dropped himself from height to be caught by an enthusiastic crowd.

A great night all around, with a mixture of punk, hardcore, grime, and rock sounds. I’m so glad I got to be part of one of these final performances from a band who was a part of my life in my teenage years. As I mentioned, letlive. will grace the stage at 2000 Trees on Saturday night, but you can catch them again the following night to experience this electric lineup for yourselves.